Dealing with the “Renters from Hell”
Have you ever owned rental property or been a landlord? If so you have probably met “The Renters from Hell”.
From the day that you hand the RFH the keys, they act as if they own the property - not you. It is as if they are the ones that bought it, fixed it up and pay the taxes. Without consulting you they do dumb things: They let their teenager paint one of the bedrooms black-including the windows. Everyone in the family smokes except the dog and they are not supposed to have pets anyway. All the ceilings are turning yellow.
They used to bury garbage in big holes in the back yard but now they have run out of room. It’s piling up all over the place but they can’t see it from the living room and don’t worry about it. The husband is a bully and insists on having his way simply because he is bigger and stronger. Some of the children are neglected and starving; but no one seems to care. They fight and throw things banging up the walls and woodwork. They keep weapons. They are careless with fire. One of their crazy kids has made a bomb out of fertilizer that can blow up the whole house.
By now perhaps you’ve guessed. When it comes to occupying the planet, we human beings are “The Renters from Hell”. We act as if we own the place. We think that we can do what we want: We pollute the air, stink up the place, trash it, fill it with garbage until we run out of places to put it. We are changing its climate, but are denying it. Stronger nations think they have more rights than others. People are left to starve. We fight over the earth and have dangerous weapons in nervous hands.
But we are just renters, not owners here; and then only for a season and a time. We come and go. Ever see a clock or a timeline of the world’s existence? The one with human beings in the last fraction of time? We are just tenants. We will probably come and go.
Finally, the time comes for us to pay the rent. By paying the rent, a tenant is at least admitting that they do not own the place. But you know what happens. The renters do not act on this. They do not pay. When they are asked to pay, they beg off and make excuses: They want more time. They complain that these are hard times. They have to feed the family. There were unexpected expenses. They wonder if they can just pay you part of it. Then you see them in a new pick-up truck. You remember that they have a bigger TV than you do. The trash is always full of beer cans and pizza boxes as if every night is a party. Your renters, I mean, the people that live in your property and don’t pay rent, go to restaurants and bars and flash their money — your money.
Here on planet earth, especially in the United States, we ignore the fact that “our rent” is due. That is, unless we acknowledge that we don’t own the place and cannot do whatever we want to it, we will have to pay. We are trading in the future health of the planet for short term goals: temporary jobs and spikes in the economy. To think about future generations, slowing climate change, and curtailing pollution means cramping the life styles that we want to pursue.
If you are dealing with the “Renters from Hell”, you eventually run out of patience. It is not easy to evict someone, but it can be done. You will serve notice that they pay, that they act or leave. Then you take them to court. The judge orders an eviction notice. The sheriff carries it out by escorting you from the property and changing the locks.
It is not easy to evict humans from the planet, but it is slowly being done. Notice has been served. The notice says change your behavior or face the consequences. Leaders have ignored it and deny that this is happening. But it is happening. Will we change this? “The Renters from Hell” can always go somewhere else, if the record of this doesn’t follow them and show on their credit report. But we have nowhere else to go but this suffering blue and green planet.
